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Decent work for Community Health Workers in South Asia: A Path to Gender Equality and Sustainable Development
Abstract:
This paper explores the ways in which the world of work continues to entrench inequality against women, with implications for their families and the broader communities in which they live. Through a case study of the work and remuneration of one classification of worker across three South Asian countries, we demonstrate that the inequity which exists within many societies is a political choice. Our perspectives take as axiomatic that fundamental human and labour rights, as elaborated in international standards, are critical for the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). It is important to recognise that the gendered division of labour provides the scaffolding of neoliberal capitalism (Fraser 2016). Capitalism entrenches, and is dependent on, a constructed gendered differentiation of productive and reproductive work which determines both the economic and social value of work. Most social care or reproductive work is constructed to be a natural obligation of women and thus, undervalued. That work is universally either unpaid or extremely low paid compared to male dominated occupations that are of equal value considering the required skills, qualifications and responsibilities. Unequal remuneration is therefore present as a social relation at the core of the material subordination of women in the world of work. South Asia as a region has the highest rate of non-agricultural informal employment, ranging from 83.6% in India and 78.4% in Pakistan to 62.1 % in Sri Lanka (ILO/WIEGO 2013). Women's labour force participation rate in South Asia is amongst the lowest in the world at 30.5% (in 2010). In India, the participation rate of women has declined from over 40 to 27.4 percent, with the most significant decline in rural areas (Chaudary and Verick 2014). Many women are employed within the informal sector, as well as the informal component of the formal-economy (ILO 2014). The lack of alternative work opportunities is an important factor in women’s decisions to work as Community Health Workers (CHWs) in South Asia. The following case studies demonstrate that CHWs are examples of a system built on women’s unpaid or low paid and devalued work, and makes recommendations accordingly. #UN #ILO #REPORT2018 #WOMENLABOURER
Publisher: ILO Type / Script:
Annual Report  in  English
Keywords:
 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY, GENDER, GENDER DISCRIMINATION, GENDER MAINSTREAMING, SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, WOMEN, WOMEN'S ADVANCEMENT, WOMEN'S EDUCATION, WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT, WOMEN'S STATUS
Thematic Group:
ILO, (2018)
Thesaurus:
14.01.00 - Advancement Of Women
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